I must strongly agree with Judy on this: too much specialization and
huffiness will simply ghetto-ize what we do even more than the current
situation, and make the random (thereby even more uninformed) keyboard
player even more of a threat to our instruments.
I would also like to weigh in briefly on those modern piano students at the
S.F. Conservatory. I have met them, and they have impressed me as young
people of curiosity, respect and taste. There is a "fortepiano" there which
isn't half bad (it's not the gorgeous instrument Paul and his former
partner Janine built for Laurette Goldberg; that one is still holding pride
of place at MusicSources), and though its flimsy lid got cracked, nothing
else has much gone wrong.
But the point is that these kids are NOT the modern piano types who THINK
they're fp experts after a master class or two. They are modern pianists
with a better understanding of diversity and nuance than some of their
peers from other conservatories. They view the harpsichord and fortepiano,
not as silly, crappy failed attempts to be modern pianos, but as elegant,
refined musical instruments which happen not to be the ones they specialize
in. Like, say, violins. They even start to expect to learn how to achieve
some delicacy on the modern piano, and, one might even think, to start
demanding a bit more color and variety in that instrument. Their ears have
changed.
This is not the same as having your harpsichord or fortepiano beat to s**t
by some self-styled world-class piano genius. There's plenty of them about,
I agree. This is about instruments dedicated to breeding a more informed
generation of pianists. ALL conservatory instruments are teaching tools and
are subject to the costs of serving such a tough role, not just the more
delicate ones. It's their job.
I'm not a professional fortepiano builder, but I have built highly-modified
versions of two of the Zuckermann boxes, both of which play pretty decent
music. The only player who ever did any real damage was a first-class
harpsichordist whom I not only admire as a player, but whom I dearly love
as a friend. This person once sat at one of my pianos at "halftime" with 12
- count 'em - 12 strings laid out lengthwise on the floor like cutthroat
trout.
Owen
Judy wrote, inter alia:
>And the experiences he had in all those different ways cross-fertilised
>each other. The same thing happens in the modern world; the experience you
>have playing the music the modern audience knows, in the venues where they
>are comfortable, helps you know how to deal with the audience in an
>early-music concert. It helps you to understand how to write program
>notes, how to put concerts together, how to present them. Not only that,
>but by playing cocktail piano and church music, you meet people who may
>come to your 'serious' concerts. Once again, audience development. It
>matters.
>
>Judy